There Are How Many Children?!

The Joys Of The Multitude

Luke 9:16-17 - "Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke them. Then He gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied..."

As plans for this mission trip began to take shape, we knew that the Koinonia Baptist Church leaders were anticipating as many as 150 children to attend this first Vacation Bible School. On the flip side, what we also began to realize, was that our Teleios Team would consist of only eight people - six adults and two teenagers - not nearly enough in our minds to do as good a job as we thought we needed to do.

Of course, we should know by now that worrying about something like having 30+ children to one or two workers is foolish because God knew long before we did how He wanted this mission trip to be and how this team would glorify His name through the efforts and work during our time here.

The various talents and skills of each team member have enabled us to do more than we ever thought possible. And though it is only Day 2 of VBS - and we now havenearly 170+ children - we have truly been of one mind, one heart and one spirit in everything we do which gives us an even greater opportunity to serve as examples and witnesses of God's unconditional love and amazing grace to this multitude of children and their families.

As Day 2 focused on "Sound (ears)," it was yet another subtle reminder of how important it is to listen when God speaks.

We continue to be impressed by the children's abilities to listen and learn to all that we are teaching. Their excitement each morning is obvious; their energy is endless; and their enthusiasm is contagious. Our daily prayer is that we can keep up!

God is truly at work in this community, and one of the keys is the children. Please pray that they will turn to Him and follow in His ways as they grow into who He would have them to be.

First Day Of Vacation Bible School Begins!

Excitement, Enthisiasm And Energy...

As with most "first days," this first day of Vacation Bible School at Koinonia Baptist Church was truly an experience. Taking all those discussions, plans and coordinating efforts and putting them into practice reminded us that the key word on this trip had to be flexibility.

And in the whole scheme of how everything played out during the morning, there was no question that God was in control, and we were merely the instruments He chose to be in this place at this time.

Our theme for the week is based on Psalm 139: 14 which says, "Give thanks to Lord for I am wonderfully and fearfully made." We have tied in this verse to an overall program based on the five senses - Sight (eyes), Sound (ears), Smell (nose), Taste (tongue), and Touch (skin). Our team was broken down into Arts & Crafts; Bible Study for each age group; Teaching Sessions on the senses; and Recreation with emphasis on games related to each specific sense.

The children - all 150 of them - are quite delightful and fun to not only watch but to interact with. They are broken down by ages into four groups: ages 3-6; ages 7-9; ages 10-12; and youth, ages 13-18. They are so excited to be involved with all the activities, and are eager to learn, but even more eager to learn of how God made each of us and gave us all of these senses.

After lunch, Teleios Team members were divided up and went with Koinonia Baptist Church members to walk the children home where we met and prayed with many of the children's parents or just had a chance to talk and pray with the children.

Upon returning from this first day of visits, each team member realized in a very humbling way, just what it means to simply live each day God gives us as abundantly as possible.

Please continue to pray for us as we minister, witness and lead the children and members of their families toward knowing how awesome God is.

Worshipping At Koinonia Baptist Church

What A Way To Begin A Week!

This morning found us rising early and heading to the Sunday morning worship service at Koinonia Baptist Church. It was truly a blessing in so many ways for each team member.

Despite the obvious language challenges, it soon became clear that speaking the same language isn't a requirement when you worship Jesus Christ. Our team was spread throughout the congregation and for more than three hours experienced a movement of the Holy Spirit in so many different ways...from the singing and testimonies to the welcoming of visitors and our sharing of greetings from our own churches to theirs to the sermon by Floyd and the special time of working toward a goal of obtaining property to provide an area that will help further the work of the church in that community.

Following this very moving worship service, the team and members from the church who would be working with the Vacation Bible School met to finalize the plans for the week.

Excitement and anticipation are truly in the air as we look forward to interacting with the children and spending time sharing God's word with them.

We Made It!

Teleios Team Arrives In Kenya!

After traveling for nearly 24 hours by the time it was said and done, we arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya to see a beautiful clear night and dear friend, Bernard Mwangi.

Once we cleared Customs and collected our "little bit of luggage," we made our way to our hotel. Though it was well after dark, we all managed to find our rooms and get settled in- and actually get some sleep!

We are so grateful for the many prayers for traveling safety and mercy as we had smooth sailing all the way - every connecting flight was made; there was plenty of food served during each leg of the trip; all of our luggage and supplies for the children made it; and we had no trouble making our way through Customs.

The only drawback we can report now is that our access to the Internet isn't what we had expected, which is why you don't see any photos with this posting. We will continue to try and include photos, but definitely keep checking each day for updates on our work this week with the children in Vacation Bible School.

Please continue to pray that God will be glorified in all our work this week.